SIP Club - Getting Hydro/Coco Results In A Soil Based Medium

[stardawg17]

How do you add fertilizers in SIP? Is it added to the water in the reservoir or is it applied to the soil?

 

[Azimuth]

How do you add fertilizers in SIP? Is it added to the water in the reservoir or is it applied to the soil?

That depends on the type of grow mix and fertilizers you are using. If it's an organic grow with something like Geoflora, you topdress every two weeks and water in. If it's a synthetic nute grow you just add them to the water you pour down the fill tube.

 

[Gidorah]

I top dress with Geoflora in the top inch or two and soak it in with a spray bottle. I apologize, I can't remember who showed me the way but it was someone prolific on this site, either LKA, Buds or Shed. With that said, I am thinking about switching to a liquid nute regimen and im researching for something that I would pour into the reservoir, would make life a little bit easier.

 

[stardawg17]

If it's an organic grow with something like Geoflora, you topdress every two weeks and water in.

So when you topdress...you just add straight water to the reservoir? Does it need to be pH'd?

 

[Azimuth]

A couple of SIP observations today.

First has anyone else noticed a dramatically reduced transition to flowering time in these things? I have a plant I recently flipped and noticed obvious pistiling after 3-4 days when it usually takes more like 7-10. Now this is a new strain for me and it could definitely be strain related, but I'll have to pay closer attention next round.

Ok. It's "next round" for me and the Northern Lights 5 plant I flipped is on day 10 and just now showing pistils if I look for them with magnification, so I'll probably consider it in flower in a few days, and about the normal length of time after flip for me.

That last plant I had was likely an aberration in that it showed pistils after 3-4 days but the write-up for that strain shows a tendency for throwing out autos so that was likely related.

I'll still want to pay closer attention to how fast I see pistils after flipping but at this point I don't think a SIP transitions any faster than a normal pot.

 

[Azimuth]

I top dress with Geoflora in the top inch or two and soak it in with a spray bottle. I apologize, I can't remember who showed me the way but it was someone prolific on this site, either LKA, Buds or Shed. With that said, I am thinking about switching to a liquid nute regimen and im researching for something that I would pour into the reservoir, would make life a little bit easier.

That's the way @Emilya Green does it with her Geoflora but she waters a bit heavier than just a spray.

 

[Azimuth]

So when you topdress...you just add straight water to the reservoir? Does it need to be pH'd?

I find if you water them in up top with say 2/3rds of what they'd normally drink from the reservoir, that they don't drink from the reservoir for a day or two while they use up the excess moisture in the soil. So I usually just skip the reservoir fill for a few days. I monitor the water level in the res with a dip stick and once they're back in gear I go back to adding water down the pipe.

I also don't keep the res filled until I get to flower since they won't drain it that often early on as they are getting established so I also use my dip stick a lot in early to mid veg.

And pH depends on how you normally do it. I grow organically so I never pH my water, but I you feed with synthetic nutes and do pH the water, you'd do that here.

 

[Azimuth]

Just waiting for the seed to crack.
Pebbles have been washed and soaked in Rhizotonic at 6,2ph for a night.. I filled the water channel at the bottom plus a couple of cm's as per picture in the instructions, then I've filled it with Plagron lightmix to which I mixed in some extra pebbles and perlite.
Then I oiled up a duct ring with mineral oil and put that in the centre sticking half out and dug out the soil again and in that space I made little Bill284 pot layering perlite also sprayed with the Rhizo solution and soil for the seeding & topwatering first weeks.
And finished the rest of the top of the top with pebbles as well.. so the soil is not directly exposed to the light and air.. I've seen people clingfilm their buckets.

Hey Fender, I missed this first time around. Nice looking setup you've got there. A nice upgrade from the caveman bucket I use.

 

[Azimuth]

I've been exploring autowatering options and was about to go with a float valve inside a 5gal grobucket setup -- I want to use a 5gal external gravity fed reservoir so I can get several days between watering. My issue is that this is in an attic and I have zero desire for any kind of leakage. I started looking at other options including building my own controller off of a rpi zeroW that is already in the tent for timelapse capture and video monitoring. Anyway, long story short, one of my searches on the Bay auction site I turned up a $8 water level controller like this:

My next quest was a backup leak detector in case of malfunction. In the end I decided to just buy 2 and use one as a leak sensor. Will take pics once they arrive and I get everything setup.

Hey Nick.

Fancy. @ReservoirDog has something like that setup in his attic, though I don't think he's using electronics. But he does have a larger external reservoir with a float valve system for his mothers.

 

[Azimuth]

Hey Azimuth, I looked into this briefly but got sidetracked and never built the cloner.

However with a DIY venturi - one can use an air pump to move water….

Hey @013 ,

I use a venturi in my aquaponics setup but that's using a water pump. Are you thinking using it somehow to spray water using air?

 

[Azimuth]

Very cool so far. I would have to have some premade though. But I like the concept. Makes a lot of sense actually. Thanks for the turn on guys. Will be looking into this further

Hi @Thomas M ,

GroBucket makes a 5 gallon insert that was referenced in the very first post of this thread that you can purchase. I had to diy mine since that size bucket is too big for my space. There are a few various styles of SIPs but they all share the same basic concepts and all seem to grow great plants.

So, welcome, and feel free to ask any questions if things aren't clear.

 

[Azimuth]

@nick5311 leak detector with pi zero should be pretty straight forward. HMU if you'd like to collaborate

Yeah, you guys work it out and present it here for those of us troglodytes. We may not understand it, but we still want to see what you come up with.

 

[013]

Yes thats it, I never built it but that was my initial plan to use air pump with DIY Venturi to move water…

also trying to recall 1 odd but potentially related detail but can’t quite get there… Azimuth, Emilya or Buds may remember but was pertaining to “kit” growers. IIRC at times several members of that group were using a dunk type of “bottom soaking or bottom feeding” and the suggestion was to mix nutes to double strength or maybe triple strength….… can anyone confirm this???

anywho just thought this may be beneficial info for SIPPERS to consider

 

[Azimuth]

Thanks, @013 . I'm not sure about the double or triple strength nutes. I try to provide about as much water at each watering as they will use in 2-3 days just like with a normal pot, so normal strength seems like it should be the way to go. I use a dip stick to judge the water level in the reservoir. As the plants grow that amount will increase until you're filling the reservoir full every day, or even a couple of times a day in flower if you want. @Buds Buddy did a side by side and grew bigger plants with the twice a day feeding vs 1x, but the 1x plant was still a very good harvest.

 

[Fenderbender]

Thanks, @013 . I'm not sure about the double or triple strength nutes. I try to provide about as much water at each watering as they will use in 2-3 days just like with a normal pot, so normal strength seems like it should be the way to go. I use a dip stick to judge the water level in the reservoir. As the plants grow that amount will increase until you're filling the reservoir full every day, or even a couple of times a day in flower if you want. @Buds Buddy did a side by side and grew bigger plants with the twice a day feeding vs 1x, but the 1x plant was still a very good harvest.

ah see.. I was kinda wondering about that.. I probably should have bought the smallest pot... as this thing is big.. I can go on holiday and not having to worry about watering.. providing three days of water worth like as per regular.. I don't see how that will work that would just be moistening the reservoir me thinks..

On the other hand I'll be topping and stretching this plant out over the area so I'll be vegging for some time so I should just fill the system and let it rip.

 

[Fenderbender]

Critical Kush 6 days old.
cotyledon leaves are a bit funky but well she's not being nursed it's straight into grown up conditions and well humidity is a bit too low and feet probably a bit too wet as that centre column was pre watered, but she also should be hitting some perlite by now, I'm sure she's settling in, leaves are considerably larger than yesterday.

Gonna fill the reservoir at the end of the week, half through the tube and the rest I'm going to cup over the euro pebble layer so the ring around gets moistened soil again and the roots get drawn to the sides as well. And then I probably don't have to water for a very long time.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Thanks, @013 . I'm not sure about the double or triple strength nutes. I try to provide about as much water at each watering as they will use in 2-3 days just like with a normal pot, so normal strength seems like it should be the way to go. I use a dip stick to judge the water level in the reservoir. As the plants grow that amount will increase until you're filling the reservoir full every day, or even a couple of times a day in flower if you want. @Buds Buddy did a side by side and grew bigger plants with the twice a day feeding vs 1x, but the 1x plant was still a very good harvest.

Once per day was closer to 12 oz. per plant. Twice per day was always 16 oz. or more per plant. I kind of feel like you get an extra 1/4 pound or so watering twice per day. But if you're not able to do that.... 12 oz. is still pretty darn good.

 

[Azimuth]

ah see.. I was kinda wondering about that.. I probably should have bought the smallest pot... as this thing is big.. I can go on holiday and not having to worry about watering.. providing three days of water worth like as per regular.. I don't see how that will work that would just be moistening the reservoir me thinks..

On the other hand I'll be topping and stretching this plant out over the area so I'll be vegging for some time so I should just fill the system and let it rip.

I think you'll find that the initial water usage is pretty slow as the plant transitions its roots over and that takes a couple of weeks, at least for me. After that water usage steadily increases. But filling the reservoir full from the get go has been counter productive for me as the perched water table sits higher up in the pot and the plants take on that droopy, overwatered look.

But, lot's of ways to do it. You'll find your groove once you get a feel for doing it different ways.

 

[Fenderbender]

I think you'll find that the initial water usage is pretty slow as the plant transitions its roots over and that takes a couple of weeks, at least for me. After that water usage steadily increases. But filling the reservoir full from the get go has been counter productive for me as the perched water table sits higher up in the pot and the plants take on that droopy, overwatered look.

But, lot's of ways to do it. You'll find your groove once you get a feel for doing it different ways.

How much cm's can roots grow in a day? as well if I don't fill the reservoir it could be a couple days longer before any roots hit the water in the channel. And they have to go through the pebble layer as well.. so I kinda want my water table to be at the top so they can throw their taps in asap.

 

[Azimuth]

How much cm's can roots grow in a day? as well if I don't fill the reservoir it could be a couple days longer before any roots hit the water in the channel. And they have to go through the pebble layer as well.. so I kinda want my water table to be at the top so they can throw their taps in asap.

Yeah, it's a bit counterintuitive to start. I thought the same about the higher water table but initially the plants don't have the right roots for the job and they look (and are) overwatered. So, by keeping the water table lower, the roots have a better environment in which to adjust. And, keep in mind that they don't need to reach the reservoir to benefit as the soil above it is more moist as it wicks the water. This isn't DWC.

I have a plant that was newly planted in a clear, 1L SIP and it took about 5 days to see any roots at the container edge, and another 10 days or so to get the root explosion I see when I have new roots coming from everywhere, and they're still not down in the reservoir yet. But, once you reach that stage, the plant just takes off and the change is noticeable.

Bottomline is they don't have to be in the reservoir to benefit from the more moist environment and providing a setting initially that's closer to what they are used to helps them transition faster.